Cleaning Up L.A.

Tracy Wilkinson’s “Street Drama” (May 5) swept me away. Despite the public opinion of Americans during the Vietnam War, I still came home a proud soldier. But witnessing the riots that took place in our cities brought me a great degree of shame. Particularly since I am an American of Latin decent. And although I did not participate in this unjust rampage, I couldn’t help thinking that some strangers looked at me as a possible suspect. At one point I felt helpless that there wasn’t anything I could do to stop the image that my Latin and black brothers were perpetuating. But when Edward James Olmos came forward to help defuse the situation, he, like other professional minority leaders, spoke on our behalf. That’s what made it so easy for me to remove my tie and push a broom in Los Angeles.

ART GOMEZ, San Gabriel